Sympathy Pains
by Gullien
Summary: Sympathy is empathy and Legault and Heath are certainly emphatic.
1. Prologue

Of all the things one needs to know to become one of Bern's wyvern riders, Legault decided, being able to determine the gender of one's own wyvern should be top priority. Granted wyvern genders, like most reptiles, were very hard to tell unless one was very very close, and granted only a fool or a brave man would get very close to that particular part of a wyvern. Heath may be brave, but fools in the Bern army did not last long enough to make it to the wyverns.

But still....

Legault's heart had stopped for a second when he heard Heath screaming.

It was not everyday that one had the pleasure of watching an entire battle grind to a halt as every head shot upwards to watch Heath scream angrily and somewhat frantically at an escaped Umbriel. An escaped Umbriel who was attempting to mount Hyperion mid-flight and mid-battle.

Grand Leader Ugly Mountain Bandit #52 was so overcome with hysteria at the sight of the mating wyverns that it was a simple matter for a red-faced Vaida to lop off his head. It was probably just her strength and not fury at her wayward wyvern that caused the head to go flying off into the bushes. Legault was almost positive that she hadn't kicked it.

Elwood perhaps should have been the one to slay the bandit, but he was occupied with keeping both hands over Ninian's eyes and one leg extended awkwardly in a futile attempt to cover Nil's eyes. It was typical of Elwood that he would cover the adult's eyes and leave the child free to look his fill. Canas was probably taking notes.

Legault would have had a sly thing or two to say to Elwood about softhearted lords but then he had his own hands clamped rather firmly over Nino's eyes. It was no easy task; she was practically hopping from foot to foot demanding to know what was happening.

Nils could fill her in later. Legault was going to be very occupied once a red-faced and rather squished Heath returned to earth.


	2. Chapter 1

Heath had a ritual. He got dinner from Lowen; he took it back to his tent. Maybe Legault would bring dinner too and annoy him. Maybe the Commander would bring dinner too and yell at him. Every once in a while Priscilla would come and talk with him and Raven would follow to glare at him. At no point, EVER, did he sit in the middle of camp, surrounded by the ENTIRE army while everyone tried to talk to him.

Get stuck between two screwing wyverns and all of a sudden every meal is communal.

"I thought Hyperion was a male?"

That was Hector, directing the question very wisely to Vaida.

"Apparently not." she gritted out.

Maybe that question wasn't so wisely directed. Perhaps if he sat quietly the Commander would kill everyone for him. Heath perked up a little.

"He could still be male." Legault murmured into Heath's ear. "After all, males can do that together too." The bastard smirked and leaned onto Heath's shoulder a little more. Perhaps he could help Vaida kill everyone. It was the chivalrous thing to do, right?

"Oh my, did this often happen in Bern? My book "History of Wyverns" states that they can only go into heat during winter seasons when..."

The Commander was gritting her teeth. "NO. No. Wyverns won't mate when kept in large groups. It means there won't be any resources for the offspring."

"Offspring? Is Heath's wyvern going to have babies? How many? Can I name one? Uncle Legault, what's a good name for a baby wyvern? Ummm... Samantha right? Heath, can I name one Samantha?"

"Nino..."

"Can I name one too?"

Great, now all the females in camp were getting starry-eyed about the thought of baby wyverns. Like he needed this to be a communal pregnancy as well.

"Uncle Legault, if Umbriel is the dad and Hyperion is the mom, do they have to get married? Or do Heath and Vaida have to get married?"

Heath struggled out from Legault's friendly restraining arm. He could feel his face flaming, and every eye on camp burning holes into him. The Commander probably would literally burn holes into him after that question. The damned females were looking even more starry-eyed at the thought of a wedding.

"I have to go check on Hyperion! He....SHE might be...upset."

The knights of Bern were proud and brave, but even they knew when to throw in the towel and get the hell out of there.

---------

Hyperion was faring better than he expected. He... she was chained to a post outside of Heath and Guy's tent. Guy would probably have conniptions at the thought of the wyvern being so close to where they slept but he had to keep her where he could see her and away from Umbriel. If she saw Umbriel now, after they'd mated... she'd kill him. Or more likely, she'd try and he'd kill her. Heath didn't even want to image anything like that happening to him. Her. She was all he had left of Bern.

He didn't know what to do. He'd never even seen a pregnant wyvern before. If she died because of his incompetence...

He'd follow her.

"Ho! Heath!" Legault's hand fell on his shoulder as he jumped, and he could hear the thief chuckling. Jerk.

"What do you want?" Jerk.

"Why Heath, so tense tonight. One would think you weren't happy about our winning that battle so quickly." Jerk! "I just came to tell you that Guy has had a small breakdown at the thought of sleeping next to a wyvern. I kindly offered to switch roommates with him. I hope you don't mind." Jerk, jerk, jerk. Knowing Legault, he probably told Guy that she was sleeping inside the tent. Heath sighed.

"No and I thank you for your gesture. Neither Hyperion nor I would get any sleep tonight if we had to listen to Guy whimp-.... if we had to listen to Guy. I take it you don't mind Hyperion being outside the tent then?"

Legault stepped up next to Heath and regarded the wyvern. She didn't look like much of a threat right now, freshly fed and half-asleep. But then, surely Legault had seen what havoc wyverns could wreak on the battlefield.

Wait...

"It's no matter. I've slept closer to wyverns than this with the Black Fang. She'll find me far harder to intimidate than one who only knows them from the battlefield. After all, the sight of wyverns in battle in certainly awe-inspiring. Why, on occasion they can even halt a battle, it seems."

Argh! Huge jerk!

"Fine then." Heath gritted out. "Why don't you go take Guy's things to him while I get Hyperion settled for the night."

Legault smirked and saluted before ducking into the tent. Heath waited until he was partway down the path with Guy's things before he turned his back on Legault and the tent to attend Hyperion. She was fed and would probably fall asleep soon, but before she did he needed to give her a rubdown and make sure Umbriel hadn't cut her with his claws while they did... that.

He was beginning to be in real pain, and was too stiff to really give her a thorough rub, but she was appreciative of the rubdown. She wasn't injured anywhere and she didn't seem to mind the slipshod job. Eyes closed and head drooping she began to purr, a noise only Heath ever got to hear. He knew it was her "I'm exhausted but content" purr, just as he knew every noise she made, from delighted to enraged. He had been trained to know her since her birth. That was another problem.

A wyvern had to have a human trainer since birth. Without one they grew up wild and could not be handled. Who in this army of people who knew nothing of wyverns could he trust with a baby? Assuming the baby came out all right. Assuming the pregnancy went all right.

Oh Hyperion.

---------

If it were not foolish and unmanly, Legault would be tempted to skip on the way back to his and Heath's tent. The night was shaping up very satisfactorily for him. An easily-won battle, and now Guy owed him a favor for switching, Wil owed him a favor for letting him room with one of the only men in the army who could talk just as much as he, and Matthew was adorably disgusted with the whole thing. And he was going to get to room with Heath. Ever since they had declared their tentative alliance and the arrival of Vaida he hadn't gotten to spend as much time with the other man as he would have liked. Really, barely enough time for a conversation, let alone something more.

He'd been working on Guy for a while, telling the myrmidon horror stories about the Black Fang's wyverns in a subtle attempt to inspire him to switch. He hadn't expected the payoff to come so soon though.

Hyperion didn't look very fearsome now, curled nose to tail like that beside the tent. He made sure to scuff some leaves and break a twig to let both she and Heath know he was coming. No sense in scaring either of them off while the night was so young. Heath was just beginning to strip his clothing as Legault stepped into the tent. It really was his lucky night.

"Ah, Heath. I've taken Guy most of his things, but if you see any I missed..." He trailed off and then hissed as Heath began to peel his shirt off. Heath hissed too, trapped in his shirt and too stiff to be able to pull it over his head. Legault placed a hand on an unbrusied shoulder to warn him and then pulled the shirt off. Heath looked adorable with his hair rumpled like that, but Legault found that most of his attention was taken with the giant bruises that covered Heath's back and snaked over one shoulder.

"Heath, what happened? It looks as if you were beaten..."

A rueful chuckle. "I suppose you could say that. Armor doesn't count for much when you're caught beneath a wyvern. I'm lucky Umbriel didn't punch through the armor anywhere with his claws. As it is, I'm going to have to look into getting new armor. It was all I could do to get out of it when Hyperion landed, and I don't think I'll be able to get back into it with those dents."

Heath bent over to remove his shoes and winced, stifling a soft whimper. Legault advanced and shoved him over gently into the bedding.

"Let me do this. Vaida will kill me if you get stuck in a bent position." It would bea pretty picture though.

Heath was blushing but tired enough and pained enough to be grateful as Legault slipped off his shoes. Legault removed his own shirt and shoes and pushed on Heath's shoulder.

"Uh?"

"Roll over. I have some salve Serra made for me." In exchange for several hours alone with Erk. "It's quite good for bruises and if you don't do something for your back you won't be able to move tomorrow." Heath grunted and turned and let Legault sit on that nicely rounded rear of his. Legault surveyed the battlefield as he warmed the salve in his hands.

Soft touches. There was no way Heath's back could take any sort of firm touch and wasn't Heath lucky that Legault had a thief's hands. He had used the salve enough on himself in the past to know how it felt. First a burn and then numbness and he could feel Heath's back twitching as he stroked the salve into the bruises, soft as a mother's kiss. He watched the great muscles in Heath's shoulders, built from handling his lance and controlling a powerful wyvern, slowly relax as the salve soaked in. Heath's back had a fascinating texture, smooth as rain rolling down the tent's canvasin between the patches of scars, slightly swollen and just a little too warm all over. He carefully covered the whole back and then stroked his hands down Heath's sides lightly, feeling Heath inhale. He was tempted to try a massage, to run his hands down to that V of the tailbone, peeping tantalizingly out of Heath's pants, but restrained himself. Slowly.

"Heath, roll over and let me put this on your shoulder."

"Uh..."

Heath rolled over, and... nice. Nice. He looked half-asleep; eyes half-lidded and slightly flushed. His face was relaxed and he didn't protest as Legault sat down on his lap. He was half-hard too and too sleepy or too relaxed to care that Legault could feel it.

Perfect.

Legault carefully smoothed the salve into the bruise on Heath's shoulder. He could feel Heath's eyes on him, but kept his own eyes on the bruise until it was completely covered in the transparent salve, slippery-smooth and glistening.

"All done." he whispered. Heath muttered something and smiled at him sleepily. Beautiful. He carefully cupped Heath's face **with **one hand, letting his other salve-covered hand drop down to lightly touch Heath's nipple.

"Heath..."

Heath stared into his eyes and then looked past him towards something and jerked all over.

There was a rustle of fabric.

"Hyperion!"

What?

"Legault, hold still! Hyperion! Freeze!"

Legault froze. Something very large was breathing puffs of hot air on his back. He turned his head slowly. Hyperion had her head pushed into the tent and was looking over his shoulder with an expression of curiosity. A broken chain was dangling around her neck. At least she wasn't growling.

"Legault, ease off me slowly." Stupid wyvern. She could have sex while Heath was watching; he didn't see why it couldn't work in reverse.

With a sigh, he slowly rolled off Heath and towards the other side of the tent, trying to act as non-threatening as possible. Once he was off Heath, Hyperion pushed her shoulders into the tent and sniffed Heath's face. Satisfied with whatever it was she found she began to lie down.

"Heath!"

"Hyperion! You can't sleep here! Get up! Hyperion, I said... OW!"

Hyperion cracked one eye open as Heath attempted to rise, completely forgetting about his back. His back apparently reminded him that it didn't feel like moving and Heath sunk to the ground again, hissing. Concerned, Hyperion tried to move further into the tent. Legault could hear a soft ripping noise.

"Hyperion, hold! Legault... do you mind? I'm not in any condition to wrestle her back to her post, and I don't have any way to hold her there if I did. Look, if we move the pillows over here in front of the door, and turn so our faces are at the door, and OW! Ow, ow ow. Alright. Hyperion, back!"

Legault watched with amusement as Hyperion backed out of the tent until only her head was in. When he had said he had slept close to wyverns in the Black Fang, he hadn't meant he actually slept with them. At least the tent was saved.

"Alright, Legault, you get on the other side of me. No, so I'm between you and Hyperion. That's it. Hyperion, here." The great head snuggled up against Heath's chest. Sighing, Heath rolled onto his side and gently touched his face to Hyperion's neck.

"Legault, thank you. I'll owe you for this, alright?"

Legault sighed and smiled. Not his best night, but still... he now had three people owing him favors, had switched tents, had been able to put his hands all over Heath's back, and if he waited until Heath feel asleep he would be able to spoon with him too.

All in all, it was still his lucky night.


End file.
